Britain’s Sam Lowes missed out on Moto2 pole position by 0.037s at Jerez this afternoon but will start on the front row tomorrow.
The EG0,0 Marc VDS rider set a 1’41.765 on his sixth lap of eight but he just couldn’t better the Sky VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi who set a 1’41.728 for his maiden pole.
Enea Bastianini came through qualifying one to take the final row spot.
It was Bezzecchi and his SKY Racing Team VR46 compatriot Luca Marini who were at the summit from the off with the Italians working well in tandem.
Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) upset the SKY VR46 applecart straight after, before Bezzecchi then placed himself at the top of the tree.
Bastianini then shot up to P2 to split Bezzecchi and Marini as Lowes and rookie Aron Canet (Openbank Aspar Team Moto2) sitting P5 and P6 after the opening runs.
However, the EG 0,0 Marc VDS rider was on a roll and has his sights set on pole position. Lowes was up on Bezzecchi’s time through the third split but couldn’t quite hold it to the line, taking P2 to go under half a tenth slower than Bezzecchi.
Navarro was also looking threatening in the closing stages of Q2 but he too couldn’t quite get the whole lap hooked up, the Spaniard going P4 and just 0.015 off the front row. Marini was then on a good lap on his final run, but the Italian slowed up before the line with little improvements coming elsewhere inside the top 10.
All this means Bezzecchi will lead the Moto2 riders off the line on Sunday, with Lowes and Bastianini eying the holeshot into Turn 1 in P2 and P3.
Navarro will be hoping his luck will change after his Turn 1, opening lap crash at the Spanish GP, he’s joined by Spanish GP winner Marini and last weekend’s polesitter Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) on the second row.
Canet had another strong showing in P7, the impressive rookie will lead the more experienced Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Tom Lüthi (Liqui Moly Intact GP) on the third row, with Lüthi’s teammate Marcel Schrötter rounding out the top 10 having had an off-track excursion at Turn 1 in Q2.
Championship leader Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) had to settle for P15 in Q2, the Japanese rider recovering from a heavy FP3 crash to take part in qualifying – work to do for Nagashima on Sunday.
